things not to say to an atheist...

Hello friends,

Here is a link to a free download of chapter 44 of Finding an Unseen God entitled "things not to say to an Atheist."

Peace to you all,
alicia

conversantlife.com blog #6

Part-two of the blog on "woe to those who squander today straining toward tomorrow" can be read here. Enjoy!

the main event

More than usual, I've been staring into the eyes of my kids, my husband, my mom...my neighbor, the stranger at the store...and thinking, This is the main event.

Loving God and loving others: This is the main event.

We eat, sleep, work, clean, build, save, plan...but really, all these are just means.

It's sobering in our day to consider which focus normally receives our "best" and which receives our left-overs...yet in the end, I think we'll agree:

Applied love was main
All else was means

conversantlife.com blog #5

Just a note...I've posted the next "Nine Woes" blog at conversantlife.com. This is a two-part blog about squandering today by straining toward tomorrow.

Louie and a Link

dear louie
Our precious toddler has a ritual he delights in at bedtime. First he loves having his shoes and socks swept off his feet with a giggle. Then he finds his favorite "passee" and places it in a nook (he has one of those Noah's ark toddler beds). Next he asks for a "babee"--which means a stuffed animal.

Snuggling his "babee" close to him he requests, "tuck you" which is our cue that it's time to tuck his quilt around him and his babee. This step is repeated a few times normally interspersed with him pulling his foot out of the blanket and saying, "oowee." So of course we happily kiss his big toe and lately he kisses it too for good measure.

Then yesterday he added another step in between "tuck you"s: he got up and reached for a few of his favorite books, placed them on his pillow, then kissed them as he said, "ni-ni."

How I wish time moved slower.

the link
The message I shared on soul bruises yesterday at a chapel in Springfield, MO is available as a video podcast. If something fun or light would lift your spirits, you may want to pass. But it may be a source of encouragement if you are currently walking through betrayal, injustice, restrictions...pain.

conversantlife.com blog #4

A note to let you know that I just wrote a new blog for conversantlife.com entitled: "Woe to those who protect wolves: will we discern between mercy and deception?"

conversantlife.com blog #3

Here's a link to my most recent blog at conversantlife.com.

It's a continuation of last week's woe: "Woe to those who crave fame."

mother's day cards

Precious gifts from my three.

Jonathan wrote me a sweet letter that read:

Dear Mom, I love you.
Can I go do movie night with you?
Right now I mean?
Your boy, Jonathan.

Dear Keona gave me a pink card for Mother's Day that she created at school. She drew the two of us dancing under the sun on the top of the card and on the bottom was a fill-in-the-blank message that went like this:

My mother is the most wonderful mom in the whole wide world.
She is as pretty as "a poppy flower."
She weighs "43" pounds and she is "20" feet tall.
Her favorite food is "tacos."
I think mom looks funny when she "forgets what shes going to say."
I wish my mom would "go to bed" with me everyday.
I wouldn't trade my mother for "my school!"

And precious Louie serenaded me. I was in the bathroom reading when he pushed in his toddler wooden rocking chair RIGHT up to my toes. Then he left for a few seconds and re-emerged with a guitar in his hand. He sat down and began to play...

Life is beautiful.

nine woes...part 1

I have just started writing a blog for www.conversantlife.com on a series called "Nine Woes for this generation." I'll keep posting thoughts here on my home blog, but I'll also let you know when I post at ConversantLife.

Today's woe is "Woe to those who crave fame: do we possess the strength to be nothing?" If you'd like to read the blog, you can do so by clicking here.

before noon

7 a.m.
"Mameeeeeee! Wee-weeeeeeee! Ooooooo-weeeeee!" Louie called early this morning. A call from our eldest had woken me up at 4am so Barry smiled at me and walked across the hall to Louie's room.

"Good morning sunsh---Woo!" Bear stopped suddenly. Then I heard, "Hey buddy, you're supposed to keep those little poops INSIDE your diaper."

(I'm so grateful for hardwood floors.)

8:30a.m.

All around the piano for devotions, we sang a stirring sentence: "Glorious things of thee are spoken..." The next phrase is cut short though by a not so stirring sentence: "GROSS! You picked your NOSE! Go wash your hands!!!!"

(the offending nose-picker opted for hand sanitizer as a small form of protest)

11:00a.m.

"George Washington Carver was born in the time of slavery?" Jonathan asked with a worried look. "Yes, buddy. His parents were slaves and he lost them in the war."

"I wish I had a time machine," Jonathan whispered. "I'd go back and stop slavery."

(As I watched him try to concentrate once again on his math book, I knew deep within that my son will invest his gifts and strengths toward the goal of stopping the slavery that still exists in the world today.)

book release day!

Over 25 years ago, I offered my fragile life to Jesus as a love gift in response to his enormous, overwhelming proposal to me, his invitation to believe. Today, his story in my life is released in book form.

I feel grateful, humbled, vulnerable, hopeful, tender.

I feel quite literally covered in prayer, as though a beautiful yet resilient banner has been stretched over our family.

And most wonderfully, I feel as though I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with dozens of friends who all along have encouraged me to risk speaking and risk writing what God has placed in my soul.

Much love and much gratitude to you all today.